In this episode of Retromade, I’m breaking the rules by going back beyond the 80s a bit to 1979 as well as flying solo to commemorate Patrick Swayze's first EVER movie role - a campy roller-disco musical comedy.

Skatetown U.S.A. captured something special with its look, feel, & impossible to ignore soundtrack. I think you owe it to yourself to watch it if you haven't seen it.

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Hello?

Hello, I'm Katie.

And welcome to retro made your pop culture rewind.

I am breaking the rules a little bit today.

I'm going to go all the way back to 1979 and I'm flying solo.

Due to a scheduling conflict.

I need to pivot from the original plant movie.

And then I plan to combine two of Patrick Swayze's early roles into one episode.

But after watching today's film, I realized that it

actually needed its own episode.

Before this week, I'd actually never seen it.

But we have to talk about Patrick Swayze's first movie role skate town USA.

I know, I know you might be tempted to tune out, but I

do urge you to stick with me.

Yes, it's campy.

No, it's not.

Well-known.

Yes, it's a roller disco musical comedy, but.

Patrick's performance is absolutely the reason to tune in.

I know I've mentioned Patrick's book in previous episodes of retro made.

So today it being the first episode focused on Patrick Swayze and his first

role, I do want to point out his book.

So.

I own it originally got it from the library.

And then after I read it, I realized it was so good.

I ordered it.

So it's called the time of my life.

By Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa Neami.

And I want to showcase this.

It is written, I think in a, I think the copyrights 2009, which is also the

year, I believe that Patrick passed away.

So it was completed, shortly before he passed away.

And I'll have little tidbits of the book throughout this season, obviously focused

on Patrick so easy, but it really is good, especially if you're a Patrick Swayze fan.

I highly recommend you check it out.

So I did want to point that out.

It's really good.

And I know I've mentioned that many times, so.

There we go.

Okay.

Now, one of the things that I wanted to do before we get into our

time capsule today and the movie.

I have requested feedback in my episodes from listeners and viewers.

So I want to showcase some of those, we're going to start with the first

episode, big trouble in little China.

And there are some YouTube comments that I wanted to point out.

The first being from Melinda Davis.

She says, love this movie, but it makes more sense if you realize

that Kurt was the sidekick.

Wang was the actual hero of the movie.

Kurt Russell and carpenter did the commentary, uh, on the DVD.

And it's really interesting.

Melinda, thank you very much for your comment.

And next time I watch big trouble in little China.

I will be sure to watch it with that commentary on.

I bet it is super interesting.

So thank you.

The next comment we have is from Andreas wall RS.

He says, I'll settle this right now.

Russell and Swayze looks similar because growing up, I had a

man crush on both of them.

Thank you so much, Andreas.

I'm glad that somebody can see it.

Everyone else you have to, you have to try them in.

Please.

They look alike, very similar.

And then he goes on to say, first Russel experience for me was tango

in cash, the bad cop, worse cop.

, line was funny.

First Swayze experience was a television series called north and south, which

was really popular in Scandinavia.

Great trip down memory lane.

Thank you.

Katie tombstone is my favorite Russel movie to my cousin and I watched

it about a hundred times on VCR.

I'm jealous that Ryan got to watch it on the big screen.

I'm a huge fan of westerns.

So you bet I'm going to tune in to your Western podcast.

The Western podcasts that he's referencing is Ryan, my cohost, who I also do

one more round with in the future.

He's going to be doing a Western podcast.

So Andreas is going to be tuning into that.

And, I am actually really shocked that north and south.

Was popular in Scandinavia, just given that it's a civil war drama, uh, in the

United States, but I'm glad to hear it.

And yes, we will be covering that later this season.

Murdoch's music minute commented.

I think I've seen the movie once or twice on TV, and it's really

bizarre in an entertaining way.

Agreed.

He asks, will you do escape from New York to.

Oh, and Ryan brought me here by the way.

So thanks Ryan for bringing Murdoch's music minute and thank you for

commenting and for joining the bond.

Murdoch's music minute.

Yes., we will absolutely be doing escape from New York.

So stay tuned for the rest of season.

One focused on our ultimate, every men, Kurt, Russell, and Patrick Swayze.

He goes on to say I loved Alf and the Muppet babies,

but rewatching it nowadays.

Well, most alpha episodes didn't age too.

Well.

Again, thanks for the comment.

And yeah, that does not surprise me a lot of things.

Don't age.

Well, But,, thank you for commenting about some of the TV shows and cartoons that we

brought up in that episode, then Marsha.

My mom commented on Facebook.

Great.

First episode, really enjoyed it.

However, Ryan's take on murder.

She wrote and Angela Landsbury almost broke my heart.

You to have a very contrasting views on several subjects, making this

quite interesting to listen to.

So Angela Landsbury in.

Murder she wrote was one of the top Nielsen rated.

TV shows of the time when we covered big trouble in little China.

So Ryan was poking fun at it.

And I had mentioned on an episode that I recall my mom really liking that show.

So she chimed in as well.

And then also for those of you who listened to that episode, if you

haven't go back and check out the big trouble, little China episode,

Uh, where I,, brought up that it was interesting how the eighties have

us feeling that truckers back in the day were super hot because, , Jack

Burton is a trucker and also we have over the top with, , Sylvester Sloan.

Which is cringey to Ryan.

He hates it for some reason.

So at every opportunity I bring it up that I think it's amazing.

In a bad way, but it's amazing.

Also semester Sloan, super hot in it.

And so both of my sisters backed me up on that front on Facebook.

, regarding over the top being terrible, but amazing big shocker.

We all grew up lovingly watching that movie.

So then, some comments from the tango and cash episode.

Andreas will ours.

He's commenting about the tripod theory.

There's a shower scene, which has amazing in tango and cash.

And so there's, there's jokes.

So he says regarding the tripod theory.

Me and some friends, , had way back.

Cash starts off by implying.

Tango has a tiny Dick.

The Peewee remark, which sets off a bunch of Dick insults back and forth tripod.

Implies Tango's equipment is so small.

It looks like a third test to call.

At least that's the theory we had about that joke.

It doesn't really work, but it's the only explanation that sort

of fits with the earlier insults.

Agreed.

We have to go with something and this is as good as any,

so thank you so much, Andreas.

We'll go with the tripod theory that you bring up.

Murdoch's music minute also, comments.

For tango and cash on YouTube.

It's been a long time since I've watched tango and cash.

I had it on VHS taped from TB and quite enjoyed it.

I have the impression that this kind of action cinema has run its course.

There is stuff around still like fast and furious, but by and large classic

action movies or action comedies are not really produced at the moment.

The whole idea of tough guys living through absurd, dangerous plots with

tons of stunts is out of fashion.

Yeah, I think you're right about this.

I hope that as with fashion, it finds its way back around at some point.

If not, or in the meantime, it's nostalgic for us.

It makes it all the more fun because we don't get it now.

Thank you for the comment.

And then one last comment and this one is from Facebook and it's Stephanie.

Who's my sister.

She says, I need to rewatch.

They are in their prime.

Indeed.

I had brought up that I think that tango and cash is worth watching just

to see these two guys in their prime.

And so she agrees as for the music artists.

She says, I totally remember that field Collin song that

I brought up in that episode.

But I was thinking Tiffany or Debbie Gibson or even

Madonna from that time period.

And I agree.

I think they were all hot just maybe didn't make the top 10

billboards for that particular week, but thank you for commenting.

And I would like to invite everyone else to please continue the conversation.

I'm constantly posing questions and, hoping that there are others

that have similar thoughts and feelings as me, or if you differ.

That's great too.

I would love to hear it.

So please.

Continue the comments.

Moving on.

Now let's open the time capsule.

Shall we.

October, 1979.

So yours truly.

Was not yet born, but many of these shows songs, references

are still familiar to me.

As we'll get into why that might be in a moment.

So according to Nielsen ratings, the popular TV in 1979 in

October where three's company.

Comma, knock on our door.

We're waiting for you.

Which obviously, again, this was before my time, but I have very vivid

memories of watching three's company all through my childhood and still do.

And I think part of why that is, is.

There Were TV networks on cable that showed syndicated shows.

Nowadays.

Obviously I don't have cable anymore.

I have digital antennas and a Roku TV.

So the ways that I watched these shows now, there's the point to digital

version of some, nostalgia channels.

For example, cozy TV.

Is a NBC's division.

So here that's channel 9.2.

If you watch that on cable or I happen to have a digital antenna.

And, in a similar vein there's me, TV, antenna, TV, bounce, TV, grit,

comment, laugh, which is L a F F.

Plus all of the Roku classic TV channels, Pluto.

, and to be, probably have similar channels for old TV and music as well.

So I'm probably missing a time.

How are all of you watching these classic gems?

Please let me know.

Alice was also in the top.

Nielsen ratings mash.

Which was a huge show back in the day.

And I can very vividly recall the theme song coming on.

However, I don't think I've actually seen.

An entire episode of mash before.

I know it's a little before my time.

And for some reason I just, I never caught on it feels like when that

theme song came on, it was time to, to turn to another channel.

Or maybe it was time for me to do homework or something, but I

missed out on mash apparently.

There was a Dallas.

Flo.

The Jefferson's I think flow might be.

Is that a spin off of the Jeffersons, perhaps I'm unfamiliar with flow, the

Dukes of hazard one day at a time.

, with Valerie Bertinelli I think there was also somewhat

recently, a remake of that show.

I don't really remember watching it at the time.

All I remember is the, the super guy in the apartment.

I'm forgetting his name, but he always had like a white t-shirt rolled up.

With a pack of cigarettes, maybe.

He was the handyman or the super.

At any rate, that's the show I remember him from, I believe.

Also, we have Archie Bunker's place.

Eight is enough and taxi.

So on the taxi front, that's one that I'm just starting to watch

actually on one of these other it's me TV or cozy TV or one of those.

It probably actually ended before I was born.

I can't recall what year that ran through.

But there was something about the feel of it that clearly didn't

catch my attention as a kid.

But now that I'm older,

I'm recognizing, there's tons of people in the cast that I really like.

So watching those is awesome.

Especially Tony Danza from who's the boss.

I loved who's the boss.

I like Tony Danza.

Just generally speaking.

So taxi.

That kind of rounds out our popular TV of the time in terms

of primetime TV, I should say.

Let's move on to cartoons.

As I'm learning from researching for the show.

There were a lot of cartoons, that I'm going to leave out, because it seems

like they just threw things at the wall.

At this time.

There were a lot of very short-lived shows that you might

not remember or weren't good enough.

So I'm not going to waste our time on those.

I'm just going to bring up the ones that are standouts.

So again, this is 1979.

The new adventures of mighty mouse.

Spider woman.

Scooby-Doo and scrappy do.

On this front, I'm a huge Scooby-Doo fan.

Always have been the original show and then all of the,

there's some, several spin-offs.

And then over the last, I don't know, 10 or 15 years, there's been a resurgence

of Scooby-Doo with the live action.

Freddy prince junar I think.

And Matthew Lillard has shaggy.

And probably some newer , cartoons at any rate in these newer renditions

scrappy do is made to be super annoying.

And there's a running joke.

That scrappy dude is super annoying, but I don't actually recall the original

scrappy dude being all that annoying.

He's just Scooby's nephew.

So I remember liking Scooby-Doo and scrappy do.

I also recall there being a cousin in one of the shows, maybe it

was the original Scooby dumb.

Does anyone remember Scooby dumb?

And he was dumb.

He was a gray.

Dog with a, with a sweat band around his head and yeah, just a dimwitted dog.

Also I'm a big fan of great Danes, so that, that tracks some Scooby-Doo.

And I had mentioned in a previous episode that I wondered where captain caveman

was in, in the mix and he's here, I guess he's just an older shows than I recall.

So 1979, captain caveman and the teenage girls.

Also laugh Olympics.

Bugs bunny and the road runner show on all new Papa, our, the new fat

Albert show, the Daffy duck show.

Fred and Barney meet the Schmoe.

Now I love the Flintstones as well.

And like I was mentioning, , it seems like at this time,

They would take an episode and with a character and just kind of make a

spinoff and see whether it landed or not.

So that's sort of what I thought this was.

I was thinking that the schmooze was that alien.

Maybe he was Zazu or something.

What was, there was an alien.

That they did a few episodes in the Flintstones with, that's not

the case when I looked it up.

I thought it was that.

But it's actually a 90 minute, Saturday morning animated package show.

And a spinoff of the original series, the Flinstones produced

by Hanna-Barbera, which aired on NBC from December 8th, 1979.

To November 15th, 1980.

So this clearly was one of those short-lived.

But the schmooze.

It's just a package show.

There's no crossover actually.

That was a thing I'm like Heath cliff was that way.

Like the first bit was Heath cliff, and then it was kind

of the ragamuffin type gang.

Do you guys remember these packaged shows like the first

15 minutes would be something.

Second 15 minutes.

It'd be something that's what this was.

And so with the schmooze, so the show was a repackaging of old episodes

of the new Fred and Barney show.

And the things segments originally broadcast as Fred

and Barney meet the thing.

Combined with episodes of the new schmooze.

So it's an entirely different character altogether.

Despite the show's title, the segments remained separate and did

not cross over with one another.

The characters of Fred Flinstone, Barney rubble, the thing, and

shmoo were only featured together in brief bumpers between segments.

Interesting little.

The old trivia there.

Oh, and then the final, , cartoon that was stand out from this time is the Jetson's.

Also, I think that dog in the Jetsons was also a great Dane.

Big big temper, great Danes.

They are pretty awesome.

Jetson's I'm very familiar with.

The concept, the pop culture surrounding it, but I don't think I've seen an

entire episode of the Jetson Caesar.

Perhaps I should check it out.

Okay.

Let's move on from TV into music.

Because again, we're in 1979.

We're not in the eighties and the top 10 billboards for this week.

October 19th, 1979.

Has a very specific seventies vibe.

The number one song was don't stop till you get enough by Michael Jackson

rise by herb Albert sad eyes by Robert, John sail on by the Commodores, my

Sharona by the knack, which many of you might recall, or maybe even

remember more by it became more famous from the movie reality bites for 19.

94.

Great soundtrack by the way.

Number six song of this time was I'll never love this

way again by Dionne Warwick.

Number seven is pop music and music is spelled M U Z I K by the letter M.

Never heard of him.

And when I looked it up, it's clearly a one hit wonder.

It's not good.

It's got this new wave synthy sound to it, which apparently was

becoming a thing at this time.

There was an era.

And many of them were one hit wonders, apparently.

So that's what that is.

Number eight is dim all the lights by Donna summer.

Nine is lonesome loser by the little river band and rounding out the top 10 is after

love has gone by earth, wind and fire.

Moving on to news and events from October of 1979, Pope John Paul.

The second is the first Pope to visit the white house meeting with president

Jimmy Carter in Washington, DC.

Howard stern begins broadcasting on WC CC in Hartford, Connecticut.

Do not recall him having that.

He went that far back to 1979.

We also have the rock band, Fleetwood Mac getting a star in Hollywood.

And the debut of Boston Celtics, rookie, Larry Bird.

As well as the debut of the Los Angeles Lakers magic Johnson.

Like the first game.

I thought it was really cool.

It brought back a couple of memories.

One of which is that we had a Commodore 64.

A game.

A basketball game that you played with a joystick.

Pretty primitive, but I remember it being super fun.

It was an eight inch, floppy disc.

There were multiple types of floppy disks with these were the big actual,

they were actually flimsy and floppy.

That was how we played this game.

And the characters were Dr.

J.

AKA Julius Irving and Larry Bird.

Not to be confused by magic Johnson.

Who is Irvin Johnson spelled E a R B I N I think that's kind of confusing.

So I wanted to point that out.

And then those two, , Larry Bird and magic Johnson also.

It might seem familiar to you.

If you haven't seen it, I would recommend watching.

Because I have found it fun to see these two in this era from the

recent HBO show called the winning time, the rise of the Lakers dynasty.

It's quite good, actually.

Ensemble, casting foods, John C.

Riley, who I, I like him in anything.

He's so good.

, Jason Clark, Adrian Brody, , Quincy, Isaiah, Sally field, and Jason Segal.

Among many others.

So check that out.

If you haven't seen it's fun.

And then, , we have rain Gretzky scoring his first NHL goal.

And October of 1979, mother Teresa of Calcutta was

awarded the Nobel peace prize.

I too remember hearing about mother Teresa a lot growing up.

So then very different from that we have Bob Dylan making his , only appearance.

On Saturday night live.

And there was apparently.

A ton of nuclear testing.

At this time, both by the USSR and USA.

So this is like , cold war era.

Kind of crazy that I was reading about a lot of nuclear testing.

Okay, so that sets the stage.

We are October, 1979.

What a time.

Let's now get into skate town USA.

The release date, as I had mentioned.

Was October 19th, 1979.

I was ready to PG.

And the I M D B rating is a 4.8 of 10.

Which.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not surprised by that.

The director is not well-known it's William A.

Levy.

Who was also a writer.

You may know the name, Nick castle.

Who was the shape of Michael Myers in Halloween movies.

He also wrote, escape from New York and the character of snake

plus skin, which is a nice little crossover with our other ultimate.

Every man.

Kurt Russell.

Then we also have, , Lauren Dreyfus, who is Richard's older brother

as a writer on skate town USA.

So that's not too shabby.

And then you're going to be blown away by the cast.

You got to watch this movie, we go through the cast credits and then we get

an introducing Patrick Swayze as ACE.

And he is very clearly the standard.

This movie.

He plays ACE, the leader of the west side wheelers skate gang.

Yup.

Then we have Greg Bradford who plays Stan.

And Stan is the movie's protagonist and he's pretty blonde guy from the valley.

Comedian flip Wilson plays Harvey, the roller rink skating rink slash club owner.

Scott Bayeux.

Everyone knows from, for me, he's the most well known from Charles in charge,

but he's been in a lot of other things.

You all know who Scott bio is?

He plays Richie Stan's manager and friend.

Yes.

I said manager.

We're in a world where.

There's a skating competition.

And one of the competitors.

In a skating competition has a manager.

And then we get Marsha Brady herself in this Maureen McCormick.

Who plays Susan Stan sister.

Additionally, we have Ron Pelullo.

Hello, who plays?

Frankie ACEs skate, gangs.

Right-hand man.

, he's most known for playing the endearingly dimwitted Horshack

character on welcome back Kotter.

And then rounding out the cast.

Some of, you might know this guy, bill Kirk and Bauer.

He plays this skate town doctor again?

Yes.

We're living in a world where there's a doctor in house.

At a roller rink.

He plays coach Lubbock from growing pains.

And it's amazing spinoff, just the 10 of us who I can't wait to cover that when

it comes up in one of these episodes.

But please let me know if you recall either of these and

you remember coach Lubbock.

So the description.

A ski town, USA, short and sweet at a roller disco competition.

Two rivals find themselves becoming good friends while competing for a prize of

a thousand dollars in cash and a moped.

Okay.

So it was a really low budget.

I couldn't find the exact number somewhere between three and $4.5 million.

But they didn't even make back their budget.

So it was not a success at the box office.

It only made 2.3, $5 million at the box office.

That doesn't even matter.

We're just going to move on.

We're going to get into why I think you guys should watch this.

It was the first of three rollerskating films around this time.

But the others were far more well-known and successful.

, roller boogie and Xanadu, but this one was actually the first.

And I'm assuming that most of you have not actually seen it, but you should.

For the outfits and hair alone.

We're talking bikini tops, short shorts, tube tops, and on men, feathered hair.

But then you add in Patrick Swayze's first appearance in a movie where he kills it.

Now it's a must see.

It is silly.

It's a campy roller disco musical comedy.

So please watch it.

Keeping that in mind.

Then you'll have fun.

It is supposed to be absurd.

It's nostalgia city.

I mean, I wasn't even born yet, but I just found this to be.

So fun.

It's a sensory overload in a good way.

Showcasing how immensely popular roller skating, roller dancing, roller disco.

And everything that surrounds that.

How popular that was at the time.

The roller rink.

As a destination skate town is a roller dance club and venue.

It has a stage.

With multiple performers and bands throughout the night.

A DJ booth, a snack bar, which kind of becomes a big part of the movie actually.

And the roller rink is the dance floor.

So you have performers and bands performing, and people are

dancing, but on roller skates,

That's the world we're in.

So yes, it's kind of crazy, but like I said, it just shows the popularity

of this kind of thing at the time.

The music is awesome.

I mean, it is a musical, but the music is great.

I don't even really like musicals that much.

There are some exceptions.

This doesn't feel like your typical musical.

But it does play amazing music of the time.

The whole movie, the soundtrack is great.

And a few standouts for me anyway, were.

Shake your body down to the ground by the Jackson's.

I need awards, ring my bell.

And a cover of rolling stones.

Under my thumb.

It's performed by hounds.

I don't know if any of you have heard of hounds, but it's a

cover of a rolling stone classic.

Under my thumb, such a good song.

There's, a summer to maybe by earth, wind and fire.

So great soundtrack.

The whole movie has music in the background, but it's

not your typical musical.

If that makes sense.

Okay.

There is an insanely crazy cast of characters and a constant comedy

of errors throughout this movie.

Like I said, it's absurd.

It's ridiculous.

But it's supposed to be, you know, it's, can't be like I had mentioned,

some of the cast of characters.

And the constant comedy of errors include you.

Have your your standard ditzy blonde bimbo type.

She's the ticket counter girl.

Then you have a super kooky DJ.

There's an old man who is a little person.

Who's clearly a regular at this place and is always flirting.

Then we have,, I don't know where this came from, but

there's a nerdy newlywed couple.

And they win tickets to this competition, . In a game show and they are constantly.

Having fish out of water type hi-jinks quite fun, but it's just

like, where did that come from?

There's an old, old man.

That's a comedian at the snack bar.

Just rambling on to whoever will listen.

And then Harvey.

Who's the owner played by flip Wilson.

There's a point in time where he's dressed in drag.

And at first I'm like, wait, why is the owner dressed in drag?

But it turns out he's actually playing an entirely different character.

But it's he's, it's his mother.

That's the character who he's playing in it.

Has little to do with anything it's just thrown in.

We have a bumbling fat snack bar attendant.

Who's constantly mowing down on hot dogs, no bun, just the hot dogs.

He's just got like handful of hot dogs that he's constantly eating.

And he plays a part in some hi-jinks that we'll get into in a second.

Involving this drunken drug dealer who comes up to the snack bar.

So those two, the hotdog guy and this.

Drunken drug dealer.

There's a scene where there's an accidental grinding up of cocaine.

Into the pizza cheese.

There's a counter again.

It's 1979.

And they're actually like putting like a block of cheese into a grinder.

For the pizza.

Somehow cocaine ends up in there.

So the whole rest of the evening, as they're grinding

cheese, to make the pizza.

All of the patrons are getting high accidentally it's hilarious.

And that the DJ talks about, oh, there's something funny in the pizza.

Also we're introduced to the set of four, I believe.

Dowdy stick in the mud types that are there as inspectors.

Of course, they just happen to show up this evening to inspect the place and

they of course are served some pizza.

And then they get high.

It's a whole thing.

It's funny.

And then we have the west side wheelers.

Yes.

There's a skate gang in this movie.

They have matching outfits and it's amazing.

They're black and purple.

The jackets on the backer vest, say west side wheelers.

, it's so awesome because Patrick looks amazing because most of

the time he's wearing just his best with no shirt underneath.

Okay.

I mean, let me see if I can get this right.

I don't think I'm exaggerating at all.

When I tell you, he's literally one of the most beautiful specimens.

Of a male human.

I mean, you watch it please.

You guys watch it.

Patrick Swayze.

, he's in this movie.

26 or 27.

I think.

You're going to enjoy some Patrick Swayze.

Yeah.

Yup.

Yeah.

Okay.

This leads us to the competition.

That pits ACE.

The reigning champ, Patrick Swayze against Stan.

For the price.

There are other contestants in this contest.

But ACEs goons come up with these schoolyard pranks to weed

them out of the competition.

So he's playing dirty.

But.

We get down to two contestants, Stan, our protagonist, , The blonde guy who

Marsha Brady, AK, Maureen McCormick.

Is his sister.

So that's where we are.

Those two.

The singles portion, ACE, he's super sexy.

He's got a serious space.

It's very sensual and sexy.

Whereas Stan's performance in the singles portion is very gymnastics forward.

They're both impressive, but.

Patrick Swayze wins that portion.

I'm sorry.

ACE wins.

The singles portion.

In his routine, remember how I was saying that there's a stage.

There's ramps everywhere.

Apparently also because everyone's on skates, ACE even has a move where he

jumps off of the stage onto the rink.

And it's super reminiscent of the same move in dirty dancing, but it's on skates.

Okay, so now.

We're in the pairs portion and ACE.

He and his partner, it's amazingly impressive.

And.

Super sexy.

It's like figure skating, but on roller skates, of course.

Mixed with sensual dancing moves.

You know, like from dirty dancing and everything, It's really

impressive to watch and I'm still perplexed how this is even a

thing, how it's possible on skates.

All the agility.

Balance strength and precision is involved.

I should also mention that Patrick Swayze.

Was actually a competitive roller skater back in the day.

So.

This wasn't new to him and he's also a dancer by trade, still it's so impressive.

Anyway.

So that's Patrick Swayze as ACE, his couples portion.

It's really good.

Like really good.

And then Stan's portion.

So his partner.

Is supposed to be his sister, Susie.

But she is Mia with ACEs buddy.

Cause he steals a car and they've eaten the pizza.

So they're high.

So he's now left without a partner.

And there is a girl and a white dress that he sees earlier in the

night that he's, , really taken by.

And it turns out that that's actually ASIS sister and she decides that

she's going to step in now and be Stan's partner in the couples portion.

So they do their routine.

It's fine.

It's mediocre in my opinion, but for the movie's sake,

Stan.

Wins the couples portion despite, ACEs being way better, but it's a movie.

And so we have to now have a tie, right?

This portion of the competition leads to the tie-breaking race

down the Santa Monica pier.

So that's what they call it.

ACE challenges stand to erase down the pier.

But it's not a race.

What it is is a game of chicken on motorized skates to see whose zags first.

To avoid plunging into the ocean at the end.

So , they have a button.

With breaks.

Yep.

That's this movie.

So they both crashed into the water.

And since Stan is our protagonist, despite.

Patrick carrying the movie.

he saves ACEs life in the water.

I'm not sure why it's , unclear why he can't just swim a shore.

I don't know if he can't swim or whatnot, but for the movie's sake,

Stan saves ACEs life.

And yay.

Now they're friends.

So that's how the movie ends.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but the roller skating moves

the tricks in this movie.

They're all very impressive., and so it's enjoyable for that aspect

regardless of the plot of the movie.

Okay, so that's general what's going on in the movie?

Like I said, Patrick Swayze's first role.

You got to watch it.

Some trivia in case I haven't twisted your arm quite yet.

So this phone was the first roller disco movie of the seventies.

It was released a few months actually before roller buggy.

I think I had mentioned that already.

After Patrick Swayze appeared in dirty dancing in 1987.

So what does that, eight years later,

The movie was nicknamed dirty skating by fans.

I love this tidbit.

For a couple of reasons, a, the fans renamed it because there were fans of

this movie and it is dirty skating.

, his performance, especially in the couples portion is very essential.

It's super sexy.

It is kind of like dirty dancing, but on skates.

So I love that.

Also, it's very reminiscent for me anyway.

Of, one of my favorites.

Sylvester Stallone.

Was in a soft core porn.

Originally titled the party at kitty and studs.

This was before he made it.

He really needed some money.

And then when he made it,, with Rocky.

The fans didn't rename it, but it was rereleased to capitalize

on the success of Rocky.

So the party at kitty and stats was rereleased after Rocky's

success as the Italian stallion.

I'm sure a lot of you knew that, but it's fine.

Then in a similar vein.

I guess we have a cameo by Dorothy Stratten.

Who was a playboy playmate at the time.

The August, 1979 Playboy playmate of the month.

And 1980 playmate of the year, apparently.

She plays the blonde at the food counter.

That's ordering pizza and it's taking forever.

She's like, I'll take it frozen.

She keeps having to reorder her pizza.

And that super old comedian guy keeps telling her jokes and

she's just like not having it.

So that's, that's that.

And then.

And shockingly, apparently cocaine use was common during the

filming kind of shows actually.

According to Maureen McCormick in her book.

Here's the story.

Surviving Marcia Brady and finding my true voice.

She writes like a disco.

There was a lot of cocaine being done on the set.

Many people were open about it.

That's not surprising, but I thought that was, a fun little tidbit as well.

Okay.

Ski town USA.

I feel captured something special with the look of it, the feel of it,

and it's impossible to ignore it.

Soundtrack.

I do hope you consider watching skate town USA to see one of

our, every man's first roll.

It's a doozy indeed.

And let me know what you think.

Of it comment on YouTube Facebook, or you can always email me at

retro made podcasts, gmail.com.

So while the seventies disco era.

Does look like a freaking awesome time to me.

We must now return to the present day reality.

Have a friend who might also enjoy this type of nostalgia, share the show and

ratings and reviews are also very helpful.

Wink wink.

Until next time.

Be kind.